VOYAGE ON WHITE NILE 



145 



SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



one small tree and, after the shots, they soared, wheeled, 

 and played in the air overhead with exquisite grace and 

 speed, ere resuming' their 

 interrupted course to the 

 north-east. 



A striking feature in 

 their pure white figures 

 was one dark patch 

 beneath the point of the 

 wing as they soared 

 above us. This, as our 

 six specimens seemed to 

 show, is a sexual distinc- 

 tion, denoting the 

 female. 



More chastely - col- 

 oured creatures than 

 these do not exist. Save a black eye-patch, crimson 

 irides, and yellow talons, their whole colour-scheme was 



delicate French-grey above, 

 white below, and they had 

 long- forked tails. No 

 wonder that, at a distance, 

 we had mistaken them for 

 terns! Terns certainly they 

 resemble far more than birds 

 of prey. 



Our six specimens (2 

 males, 4 females) were all thin 

 and in poor condition. Their 

 crops were empty, save that 

 one contained a few grass- 

 hoppers. 



Although the date (Jan- 

 uary 28th) represents" the Nadir of migration times, 

 yet this band was clearly travelling north - east 

 when they alighted, tired and hungry, on the first 



SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 



